Related papers: Quantum gravity with a positive cosmological const…
Background independence is often emphasized as an important property of a quantum theory of gravity that takes seriously the geometrical nature of general relativity. In a background-independent formulation, quantum gravity should determine…
It is an old speculation in physics that, once the gravitational field is successfully quantized, it should serve as the natural regulator of infrared and ultraviolet singularities that plague quantum field theories in a background metric.…
Loop quantum gravity is believed to eliminate singularities such as the big bang and big crunch singularity. This belief is based on studies of so-called loop quantum cosmology which concerns symmetry-reduced models of quantum gravity. In…
Quantum cosmology has traditionally been studied at the level of symmetry-reduced minisuperspace models, analyzing the behavior of wave functions. However, in the absence of a complete full setting of quantum gravity and detailed knowledge…
Aspects of the full theory of loop quantum gravity can be studied in a simpler context by reducing to symmetric models like cosmological ones. This leads to several applications where loop effects play a significant role when one is…
We show how extended topological quantum field theories (TQFTs) can be used to obtain a kinematical setup for quantum gravity, i.e. a kinematical Hilbert space together with a representation of the observable algebra including operators of…
It is argued that quantum states of geometry, like those of particles, should be coherent on light cones of any size. An exact classical solution, the gravitational shock wave of a relativistic point particle, is used to estimate…
Quantum gravity has been so elusive because we have tried to approach it by two paths which can never meet: quantum mechanics and general relativity. These contradict each other not only in superdense regimes, but also in the vacuum. We…
We review some aspects of three-dimensional quantum gravity with emphasis in the `CFT -> Geometry' map that follows from the Brown-Henneaux conformal algebra. The general solution to the classical equations of motion with anti-de Sitter…
Within a perturbative cosmological regime of loop quantum gravity corrections to effective constraints are computed. This takes into account all inhomogeneous degrees of freedom relevant for scalar metric modes around flat space and results…
We review aspects of loop quantum gravity in a pedagogical manner, with the aim of enabling a precise but critical assessment of its achievements so far. We emphasise that the off-shell (`strong') closure of the constraint algebra is a…
We examine Bousso's covariant entropy bound conjecture in the context of radiation filled, spatially flat, Friedmann-Robertson-Walker models. The bound is violated near the big bang. However, the hope has been that quantum gravity effects…
Quantum gravity, and quantum cosmology, is not yet a complete nor consistent theory. One of the reasons for this is that the identification of the quantum of gravity is still very elusive. Here we show that the quantum of gravity is the…
This talk summarizes a new understanding of the cosmological constant problem, which essentially relies on a phase-space-like computation of the vacuum energy, both in the realm of quantum field theory coupled to gravity, and in the realm…
In theories of gravity with a positive cosmological constant, we consider product solutions with flux, of the form (A)dS_p x S^q. Most solutions are shown to be perturbatively unstable, including all uncharged dS_p x S^q spacetimes. For…
The search for a quantum theory of gravity has become one of the most well-known problems in theoretical physics. Problems quantizing general relativity because it is not renormalizable have led to a search for a new theory of gravity that,…
The properties of the quantum universe on extremely small spacetime scales are studied in the semi-classical approach to the well-defined quantum model. It is shown that near the initial cosmological singularity point quantum gravity…
We explain the need for a theory of quantum gravity and some general ideas about string theory, including the idea of the derivation of the Hawking Bekenstein entropy formula for extremal black holes. We then give a general description of…
Quantum gravity aims to describe gravity in quantum mechanical terms. How exactly this needs to be done remains an open question. Various proposals have been put on the table, such as canonical quantum gravity, loop quantum gravity, string…
We study further the r\^ole of the boundary operator $\O_B$ for macroscopic loop length in the stable definition of 2D quantum gravity provided by the $[{\tilde P},Q]=Q$ formulation. The KdV flows are supplemented by an additional flow with…